Safe in the Arms of a Saint
by AlwayzWriting
Summary: Gwen McGuinty was trying to get her life back in order when three men came to her grandfather's bar late one night, and one of these men just might be the one to heal her. MurphyxOC rated M for later.
1. A Wee Irish Lass

**A Wee Irish Lass**

Gwen was sitting outside of her grandda's pub thinking over the course of her life. The entire reason she was in America was because her parents died a few years ago, and since then she's seemed to have gone from bad to worse with her life choices. Especially getting hooked up with Devon, he was probably the worst mistake of her life and her grandda would have a heart attack if he knew what the man was doing to her. She rolled up the sleeve of her shirt and looked at the bruises he'd put there.

"Gwen, g-g-get your fuck! Ass! self in here before you c-c-catch a cold." Doc called to her. She smiled a little bemused at her grandfather's illness, and stood up rubbing a hand along the bandages on her stomach. The bruises were just part of her "punishment" from Devon, the burns on her stomach and legs from his cigarettes were the real punishment. Gwen stepped through the back door just as there was a knock on the front.

"Are ye expecting company, grandda?" She called, as he went to open the door.

"Aye, lass I am. Fuck! Ass!" He said then opened the door and smiled at the three men standing out there. Gwen went into the kitchen to finish up her chores as her grandfather let the men inside. She'd spent the past two days being jumpier than a frog. Every loud sound and person grabbing for her made her jump. Gwen hadn't talked to or seen Devon in three days, she knew the first day wouldn't upset him any but for her to be gone longer than just one and without contacting him, she might as well be signing her death warrant, but she felt safe in her grandfather's pub, mostly because she knew Devon wasn't likely to enter it or any other bar for that matter. He prided himself on being a teetotaler. She finished up her chores then went out to the bar to tell her grandda good night but he wasn't there. Gwen went to the back room that he used for storage and saw him with three men in their early thirties.

"Grandda, I'm heading on up to bed, I thought I would tell ye goodnight." She said looking at the three men suspiciously.

"C-c-come here lass I want you t-t-to meet Murphy and Conner. They saved my bar ye know?" The boys looked her over and gave her two identical devil-may-care smiles, as they shook her hand. "Boy's this is my g-g-g-granddaughter. Fuck! Ass!"

"You're called fuck ass too?" Everyone looked at the Mexican who spoke.

"No, my name's Gwen, I live above the pub." _For which I am extremely grateful at the moment._ Gwen added silently. The men all shook her hand, and she kissed Doc's cheek before going up to her room.

"Ye never told us you had a granddaughter." Conner said turning to Doc as the older man passed out the drinks.

"Can you blame him with two handsome rouges like us roaming about?" Murph replied smiling. "Probably had her go hide up in her room whenever we came over."

"I wish that were the case lads." Doc said looking at them with sad eyes. "She lived back home until a few years ago, when her parents died in an accident, she didn't have anybody or anything so she came to live with me. Fuck! Ass! I'm w-w-worried about her too; she's been acting strange the past few days." Doc left the room to fix them something to eat and the boys stared between them then started to shoot some pool and work on getting drunk. It was late when they got their second glimpse at the girl. She came into the back room in green silk pajamas that made her bright, granny smith apple, eyes stand out.

"Can ye all keep it down a few notches? I'm trying to sleep some but I can't get a wink with all this racket." She yelled her brogue coming out thick and strong. Murphy pulled himself off the floor and stared at the dark haired lass. When she pushed her hair back from her face, he caught the briefest sight of what he felt certain was a bruise.

"Forgive us, lass." Doc said looking a bit sheepish. She smiled at the old man before going over and kissing his cheek for the second time that night.

"Not too much longer, alright Grandda? Ye need your rest too." Doc nodded and Murphy watched the girl's backside as she walked out.

"J-j-just what are you two s-s-staring at?" Doc yelled and both of the Irish twins jumped.


	2. A Bruised Confession

**A Bruised Confession**

The next morning Gwen was in the kitchen making a pot a coffee and jumped dropping one of the pots when Murphy appeared next to her.

"Jesus, Mary and Joseph, don't sneak up on me like that" She let out placing one dainty hand to her chest.

"I didn't mean to frighten you." Murphy said bending over and helping her pick up the pieces of the pot.

"It's alright it's not your fault." She said, dumping the pieces in a garbage can. Murphy studied her.

"Who is he?" He asked and she stared at him confused. "The man who gave you these." He shouted in a whisper grabbing her arm and pushing up the sleeve revealing an array of bruises that went up to her elbow. "Jesus Christ, how can ye let someone do that to ye?" He demanded.

"Will ye keep your trap shut?" Gwen growled pulling her sleeve down. "I don't let him do it, either. I left him, at least hope so." She looked at him and rubbed her arms. "Every time that door opens I'm afraid he's going to come in here and drag me out by my hair." Gwen confessed to him.

"Why not tell Doc, or the police?"

"Grandda is in no condition to do anything about it, and I don't trust the police. Please Murphy, please don't say anything about it. I feel so ashamed that I could get into a relationship like that." Tears started running down from her green eyes and Murphy pulled her into his arms, not knowing what else to do.

"Well now what have we here?" Conner said from the doorway. Murphy felt Gwen stiffen in his arms, before he let her go and turned to his twin.

"She was just telling me about her parents." Murphy covered as Gwen went back to making a pot of coffee. Conner looked between the two dark haired Irish people and just nodded, not believing a word of Murphy's story, but his twin obviously wasn't budging on the subject and Gwen wouldn't look at him.

"Well, come on Murph, Romeo's taking us somewhere to get some information about the priest." Connor said then left the two alone in the kitchen.

"I won't say anything, but I want you to let me know if you do have any trouble with the man, alright?" Gwen nodded, not sure why she was so willing to put her trust in this man. She got to work on making breakfast for her and her grandfather, as the three men left. She looked down at the sleeves that covered her arms and sighed, praying that they would fade soon.

"So what was really going on between you and Gwen this morning?" Connor asked as they made their way to the Silver Peso.

"I told ye man, she was telling me about her parents." Murph replied sticking to his story even as he was imagining shooting the pathetic bastard that could hurt Gwen. He couldn't understand how anyone could want to hit a woman in anger.

"Is that right, that's why she wouldn't look at me when I was in the kitchen?"

"Maybe she doesn't like the looks of you." Murphy teased, and was rewarded by a slap in the back of the head.

"Aye and maybe I should tell Doc that you're putting the moves on his granddaughter." Murphy didn't respond, just kept staring out the window killing the faceless bastard over and over again in his mind, until they reached the restaurant.

Gwen was in the back room cleaning up the mess from her grandfather's reunion with the two Irishmen, when she accidentally kicked a bag that was halfway sticking out from one of the cots. Curiously she pulled it out and heard the sound of metal rubbing against metal. Slowly she unzipped the bag and stared at the guns that were inside, and spotted the penny rollers and started hyperventilating. She ran out of the back room carrying the bottles and unceremoniously dropped them in the trash before running up to her room and locking herself in.

_The Saints._ That was all she could think of as she sat on her bed staring at the wall. She knew they weren't bad people her grandda had told her how he knew them personally and knew that they would never hurt an innocent person. The sleeve of her sweater fell down a bit and she looked at the bruise that was there, and jumped off her bed.

"Holy shit!" She yelled, and then placed a hand to her mouth.

_What have I done?_ She thought.

"That's easy you let a destroyer of evil men see that you have sleeves of bruises covering your arms." She scolded herself as she started pacing back and forth.

_That doesn't mean he'll do anything does it?_

"No, not necessarily but still, most people consider an abuser evil." She replied to herself.

_I didn't give him Devon's name that's good right?_

"No I didn't do that, and besides he's not a gangster and what's more they're here because of a priest." Gwen ran her hands through her hair and growled, then realized she'd been talking to herself.

_Oye, I need a pint._ She thought then looked at her watch and thought about slapping herself it was only noon. Gwen sighed and lifted up her shirt and carefully removed the band-aids off of her stomach, and looked at the sores that were there, wincing. She looked at the other ones she'd gotten over the course of the three months she had dated Devon and knew that these new ones just like the old ones would never fully go away. The old ones looked like bruises on twisted skin. She hoped Murphy never saw them.

"For the love of Pete girl do you plan on taking your shirt off for him?" She growled to herself. Then laid down on her bed.


End file.
